


Day 20: Pining - The Purity of a Person's Heart

by 221b_hound



Series: Techienician: Botanical Love [21]
Category: Dredd (2012), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: 30 Days of Techienician, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Techienician
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 04:47:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8087854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/221b_hound/pseuds/221b_hound
Summary: Techie is missing Matt while Matt is working on the rebuilt border station. But he's not the only person pining in the Peace Garden in the middle of the night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from the quote: "The purity of a person’s heart can be quickly measured by how they regard cats." I haven't found the source and I'm almost certain it's a misquote. :)

Techie sits in the Peace Garden in the middle of the night, inhaling the scent of soil and greenery and missing Matt from his skin to right down in his gut. They said goodnight over the comms – Matt’s not really that far away. He’s over at the border station for a few days, completing the rebuild of the radar system. The station repairs, following the X-wing attack, are almost done.

The pilots who nearly started the war have been taken away to a joint First Order/New Republic tribunal, and turned out to be _agents provocateurs_ from Nar Shaddaa. Turns out that the individual money to be made in wartime is more appealing than the prosperity of collective peace, at least for certain Hutt crimelords. General Phasma is currently being lauded as a leader of uncommon good sense and courage.

Techie’s not just sitting and sniffing, though. He can’t sleep from missing Matt, but he’s taken on Matt’s share of their gardening duties. They’ve both been attending the practical gardening sessions conducted by the ship horticulturalist, and the dual plot of vegetables assigned to them has been thriving as a result. Techie is checking the moisture and nutrient levels of the soil, and making sure that their crop of tangaroot, bordered with scry-mint, is getting enough light to flourish.

He’s used to being here alone in the middle of the night, so when the deck door swishes open, he freezes.

The door is closing behind Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka, General Phasma’s Protocol Advisor. Mitaka is carrying a large box by a handle.

Mitaka sees Techie and gives him a little wave and a small smile.

“Computer Technician Techie, isn’t it?”

Techie nods and tries not to feel uncomfortable that someone from the General’s team has noticed him.

Mitaka bends and opens the box. A black cat jumps out of it and sniffs the air tentatively. It pauses when it sees Techie sitting in the middle of the giant ship’s garden and then trots towards him. Techie holds out his fingers for Captain Kit to sniff, and the cat purrs loudly and rubs her cheeks against his fingers.

“She likes you.”

Techie looks up at Mitaka.

“The General,” says Mitaka. “She likes you.”

Techie has no idea what to make of that.

“I’m pretty sure she uses that cat as a test of character. If the Captain approves of you, the General approves of you.”

Well, Techie had wondered, when he and Matt gained garden privileges after they made sure Captain Kit got home, if the General had realised it was them. The gifts might have been a giveaway, but they’d never made a big deal about it. The muffins happened to be ready. Techie had made the wire cat after meeting Captain Kit in the General’s quarters so it just seemed appropriate to hand it on rather than leave it hanging about their small cabin.

Mitaka walks over to Techie and Captain Kit and holds out his fingers. Captain Kit sniffs them disdainfully and then walks away to explore the garden.

Mitaka sighs.

“I don’t suppose you know of any tricks for getting Captain Kit to like me, do you?”

Techie blinks. “Why do you want the cat to like you?”

Mitaka, watching the disappearing tail of the General’s cat, sighs. “Seems a way to get in her good books.”

“The General’s?”

“She’s something, isn’t she?”

“Captain Kit?”

“The General. She’s…” Mitaka sighs again and doesn’t finish the sentence. He glances at Techie and notes the bracelets. “Congratulations on the betrothal,” he says.

Techie’s fingers go to the bracelets, rubbing over the silver, gold, rose gold bands. He knew of no engagement rituals where he comes from, but Matt’s from Corellia and it’s a thing they do there. Techie wasn’t sure what to make of them at first, either, but once he understood that he and Matt were both to wear them, he was fine. It made a difference, not to be marked as owned by anyone, even Matt – but for them both to be wearing their commitment to each other. Belonging wasn’t the same as being owned.

“Thanks,” says Techie.

Captain Kit comes prancing out of the neighbouring patch of fruit vines with a leaf in her mouth, as proud as if she’d battled with it on equal terms. Techie smiles and notices that Mitaka appears just as fondly amused by it.

“Sit,” Techie says.

Mitaka glances down at the soil, and at his uniform, and frowns.

“Want to get on with the cat?” Techie asks.

Mitaka sits beside him in the garden bed.

“Like this,” says Techie. Cats, he knows, have to like you in their own time. You can’t rush it, and it may never happen. Cats are kings of themselves, and that’s just the way of it.

Techie holds out his fingers again and Captain Kit returns for a sniffing and for Techie to scratch her chin. Mitaka holds his fingers out and waits. Captain Kit sniffs his fingers again and thoughtfully bites the tips of them, then again, harder.

“Don’t shout,” warns Techie, just as Mitaka looks like he will.

Kit doesn’t bite too hard, really. No blood is drawn anyway, so Mitaka tries not to get tense. Captain Kit licks where she’s given his fingers a taste test, sniffs again. Then she rubs her flank all along the thigh of Mitaka’s formerly immaculate uniform trousers before going off in search of more plant life in need of stalking.

“I’m covered in cat hair,” complains Mitaka.

“Good,” says Techie, “You’ll smell more like her next time, and she’ll like you better.”

“Captain Kit or the General?”

Techie’s eyes widen at Mitaka’s ruefully amused expression. Then the corner of his mouth lifts crookedly, sharing the joke. “Both.”

“She’s incredible,” says Mitaka, apparently finding Techie a suitable ear for his confessions. “She’s so strong. So smart. She’s so _tall_. I like that.”

Techie also likes strong, smart and tall, so he nods.

“She’s on her way back from the tribunal,” says Mitaka. “I promised her I’d take good care of Captain Kit. She suggested Kit might like to visit the garden, but late so there’s not too many people around. She gets skittish. Kit, I mean.”

They both look up as Captain Kit, with another defeated leaf in her jaws, emerges from the vines. The cat puts the leaf down and attacks it some more, flipping onto her back for kicking, to make good and sure it’s of no further danger to catkind.

“Don’t suppose you have any tips,” says Mitaka.

“Tips?”

“For… wooing.” Mitaka grimaces.

Techie has never been asked for his opinions on wooing in his life. He and Matt just sort of... grew together, like flowers towards sunlight. He hasn’t the first idea how to go about falling in love with someone on purpose.

Techie thinks that he would have loved Matt even if Matt hadn’t loved him back. He thinks love is like cats, and you can’t force it to come to you. You have to be patient and open and to offer yourself. Even if your fingers get bitten a little and you get ignored sometimes.

So that’s what he tells Mitaka. Techie thinks Mitaka thinks he’s nuts, but then Captain Kit comes over to sniff Mitaka’s knee, and give Mitaka’s extended fingers another thoughtful chew. And then she lets Mitaka scratch her behind the ears.

“You could be right,” says Mitaka.

So for a little while, Mitaka and Techie sit in the garden, watching Captain Kit and thinking of the strong, smart, tall people they love.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the image I made with Enlight for the Tumblr post:


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